Posted by bensand on 15th May 2007
Done in a slightly distracted fashion as I was in a soft play centre for children with half an eye on a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old. Slick as ever from Virgilius without a widespread theme although Charles Dickens, Ebenezer Scrooge and A Christmas Carol all appear.
| Across |
| 1 |
A CHRISTMAS CAROL - double definition |
| 9 |
CHARLES - CH + ARLES |
| 10 |
DYNAMIC - MANY in CID <= |
| 13 |
TRISTRAM SHANDY - (STIR)* + TRAMS + HANDY |
| 17 |
LAWRENCE STERNE - (DH) LAWRENCE + homophone for STERN |
| 18 |
RAILWAY - (WARILY)* around A, very elegant |
|
| 25 |
DICKENS - substitute for devil as in “what the dickens”. This was unaccountably (given I’d already got A CC, Ebenezer and Charles) the last answer I got. I don’t think a childrens soft play centre provides ideal conditions for concentrating on a crossword! |
| 26 |
EBENEZER SCROOGE - (ONCE SOBER GEEZER)* |
| |
| Down |
| 3 |
ILL-KEPT - (KILL PET)* |
| 5 |
ADDRESSEE - ADDRESS + EE |
| 6 |
CANTATA - CAN + TATA |
| 7 |
REMAINDER - REMINDER for eg knot tied around A |
| 8 |
LOCKER - LOCKE + R |
| 14 |
INANIMATE - I + NAN + I MATE. MATE for “beat in board game” is nice but I’m not sure about NAN for girl, perhaps there’s a better breakdown |
| 18 |
RAWHIDE - WAR <= + HIDE. RAWHIDE is untanned leather so needing treatment… |
| 20 |
BROOKE - Move the R in Booker |
Posted in Independent | 2 Comments »
Posted by ilancaron on 15th May 2007
Solving time: 30’
Quite a few whimsical and cryptic allusions. I didn’t really enjoy this puzzle but probably because I’m a bit burnt out having just done The Times as well (“it’s not you, it’s me!”). I found myself being lazy on decoding all the wordplay – we’ll see if I manage while writing this up. Upon rereading, there are some good clues here – so it really is me after all.
Across
| 1 |
SADDLE,RY – I assume that a “groom’s gear” can be described as SADDLERY. |
| 5 |
S(CR)EEN – CR must be an acceptable abbrev of “crown”. |
| 9 |
UN,STEADY – Dicky isn’t a name (certainly not French!), just the definition: UN is “a [in] French”. |
| 10 |
A,RREST=”rest” – a “spider” is a Brit for a snooker “rest” or bridge (wordplay decoded as we speak). |
| 12 |
EARTHENWARE – (near the Wear)* — I wonder if this is an &lit: are “clay pots” produced in particular near the River Wear? |
| 15 |
FLATS – two definitions: both of which seem cryptic. The second (“not natural”) must refer to stage scenery. No, Barbara notes below that it’s musical: ref. sharps and FLATS. |
| 17 |
SPECTACLE[s] – double/cryptic def: spectacles come in pairs usually thus “Well, one of them!” to cryptically make singular – likewise, “A sight for sore eyes?” defines a singular SPECTACLE. |
| 18 |
LIGHTSHIP – cryptic def of what is the marine equivalent of a lighthouse (thus “offshore” and “heavy weather”). |
| 20 |
SHOPLIFTING – groan: cryptic def: “Is a crane needed for this theft?” |
| 24 |
LARKIN[g] – Ref. Philip LARKIN the poet – almost invariably when a dropped “g” is encountered in a clue it indicates a dropped “g” in the wordplay (here, “foolin[g]” around and LARKIN[g] around). |
| 25 |
BACTRIAN – not sure if this isn’t just a straight definition: because a BACTRIAN camel is in fact from Afghanistan and has (two) humps (yes, a BACTRIAN also describes part of Afghanistan). Anything else going on? |
| 26 |
BOARDS – elegant double definition: “Stage directors”. |
Down
| 1 |
SAUCERFULS – “Cats love these results of unexpectedly severe storms”. The definition is clear (what cats love) but what about the wordplay? Noted below that it’s ref. “a storm in a teacup” which must overflow and fill the saucer. |
| 2 |
DIS(ARRAN)GE – ARRAN (our Scottish island) in (Gide’s)*. Nice clue since the definition “reorganise” is almost always an anagrind. Too bad Andre Gide didn’t write about Scotland… |
| 3 |
LEE,CH – Ref. Laurie LEE the writer. I’m betting that once upon a time, when leeching was considered a good thing medically, doctors were referred to as leeches (?). |
| 4 |
RIDING SCHOOL – nice clue: “get on up” refers to mounting a horse to go RIDING. And of course ref. West and East RIDING in Yorkshire. |
| 6 |
CARPENTER – Ref. The (worst group ever in the history of pop music) CARPENTERs and what a CARPENTER does: namely, joining furniture. |
| 11 |
CATERPILLARS – can be interpreted as a clever &lit: CATERPILLARS don’t do your vegetables (“greens”) much good nor do the Greens like them much (since they tear up the landscape). |
| 14 |
NEWSAGENTS – cryptic def for which I would have expected some acknowledgement by the setter (e.g. a question-mark): the surface “rag trade” misleads towards the garment industry. |
| 21 |
FAT,SO – “Podge: very good word for obese fellow”. Def is “obese fellow”. I think the wordplay is FAT for “podge” and SO for “very good word”, i.e. a word that is used to indicate superior quality (as in, “this clue is SO clever”). |
Posted in Guardian | 6 Comments »